


Winter Fields

by thealexiad



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Descriptions of well, M/M, Murder, also angst, but with a good helping of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-04-30 18:09:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5174027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealexiad/pseuds/thealexiad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor Walsh returns to his high school, this time as a lawyer representing one of its students. The memories he has of his time here, and those he has accumulated in the time since, will be brought to the surface by this case. In freezing New Hampshire, Connor will have to struggle with who he was, what he has done and how his actions have made him the person he is now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Did You Know Him?

Connor rolled down his windows soon after crossing the border into Vermont. The crisp December wind bit his face for a minute or so before he closed the windows again. It was all he could do to stay awake; the beautiful monotony of grey skies and grey trees with dashes of orange intermingled among the evergreens was nice to look at for a while, but as the traffic dissipated along his northward route there wasn’t much left to keep him engaged. The weight of his eyelids told him he needed to fall asleep – and considering it was eight in the morning and he’d already been awake for four hours he didn’t have much of an argument.

* * *

That morning, he’d been sleeping soundly, having actually gotten to bed on time, when the buzzing had woken him up – his hand took the initiative, feebly feeling around his nightstand for the source of the noise. On grabbing the offending phone he finally got around to opening his eyes to see the caller.

“Mom”

He looked at the time.

4 AM.

It took a couple moments for him to put two-and-two together, but when he did his heart started racing and he pressed to answer the call.

“Mom?! What’s going on?”

“It’s fine…well I’m alright at least, honey.”

“Is it dad? Or Gemma?”

“No, no, we’re all fine.”

Connor was able to catch his breath. “What is it, then?”

“It’s Mrs. Green – Zach’s mom.”

Zach Green had been one of the few people from high school that Connor had actually considered a friend. They’d played lacrosse together and ran cross country all four years, and they’d been co-captains of both their senior year. Though Zach was the far better lax player and Connor had been the faster runner, their leadership styles meshed perfectly, with Connor being able to be cold and aloof when he had to while Zach was always the warm and gregarious one. While they’d managed to keep in contact during undergrad, by the time he’d (miraculously) graduated law school Connor had fallen into the pattern of having brief conversations every few months with his friend. They’d discuss in general terms how life was going at the time, but never delve too much deeper. One of them would also usually mention how they “really should try to meet up some time.” They had, once, when Zach was driving from New York to Boston and had went out of his way to meet him.

“Oh my God, did something happen to him?!”

“No, not Zach; it’s Jerry.”

 _Zach’s brother_. “What happened? He goes to Redfield too, right?”

“Right. I couldn’t get all the details out of Lauren, but it seems like he’s in trouble there.”

“That’s terrible mom, I’ll call Zach later. But why did you call me now?”

“It’s legal trouble, honey. The Greens’ laywer is vacationing in Fiji for the next three weeks, and their firm is all the way in Ohio anyways. They want to know if you can help.”

It had been quiet lately in Northampton; for the first time in a while actually he only had one client; some minor offense that probably wouldn’t get any jail time.

“Yeah, I think I can actually.”

“Thanks honey. Here’s Lauren’s number…”

* * *

“It’s terrible! A-a-and I can’t believe! He would never! My son!”

“Mrs. Green, I know how hard this must be, but I need you to slow down so I can help you.” It was a good thing they were only talking on the phone, because any sort of video would have forced Connor to put on a sympathetic face in addition to a sympathetic voice, no easy task at 4:30 AM.

“Right, right. It’s just that they’re saying he’s a murderer! Our little Jerry! Our-” Mrs. Green’s voice suddenly grew more distant as a deeper voice came on the line.

“Con! You gotta help him. Jerry’s just – he’s too young for this, y-y’know? You gotta…” Connor had spoken to Mr. Green several times before, but had never heard him blubbering like this. It was a struggle to make heads or tails of anything he was saying.

“Mr. Green, I promise you I’ll-” He heard the phone change hands again. He supposed they weren’t in any state to think to put it on speaker.

“Thank you so much, Connor! We can pay for wherever you stay near there, and of course we’ll pay you what we pay our own lawyer. We’re flying out tomorrow, but you’ll probably get there before us. You’re not too far, right?”

Connor normally would have had the good grace to turn down such an offer, or at least propose a discount, but he wasn’t about to turn down anything that would help him pay off his law school in this lifetime. “That sounds great, Mrs. Green. And no, it’s just a couple hours’ drive for me.”

“We’ll see you later today then. Thank you so much again Connor.”

“I’m just happy to help.”

Hanging up, Connor shot out a couple texts to make arrangements for the next few days, and began to decide what to pack. He quietly shuffled into the kitchen and turned on the stove. It wouldn’t do much good to leave too early, and he’d earned a nice breakfast anyways.

* * *

Turning off of I-91 and leaving Vermont for New Hampshire, Connor began to recognize the landscape more; the ski mountains and the lakes which were already starting to freeze over in anticipation of winter.

As he turned north again he began to recognize landmarks – the diners where he had satisfied his drunchies late at night, and overlooks where he’d gone when boys had proven particularly hard to impress; where the first flaming wisps of daybreak licking the eastern sky had proven to be the edge he’d needed to score. Connor couldn’t help but scoff at the memory.

* * *

Returning to Redfield Academy’s campus after all of these years, it was as if he’d never left. Even the same parking space he’d used was open, through some sort of providence. Connor got out of his car, bundled in his pea coat and scarf, and set off to walk through the campus towards where Mrs. Green had told him the body had been found. Looking around, not much had changed except for one rather new looking building – probably for the science department, given the condition of their old chemistry labs. The scene of the crime – the alleged crime – was in fact right behind one of Connor’s old dorms, Hutchinson Hall.

The dorm, too, was as he’d remembered, save for the several squad cars in the road outside it and the police tape surrounding the pond behind it. Connor walked down the hill towards the pond, feeling his boots crunch through the snow, and approached the nearest officer. “Excuse me. I’m Connor Walsh, representing Jeremiah Green.”

“Ah, so you’re the kid’s lawyer. Don’t worry, we haven’t charged him, yet.” The look in her eye told Connor that she expected this to change soon.

“Sergeant Jiang!”

Jiang turned around. “What is it, Bartley?”

Officer Bartley pointed to something that two other cops were pulling out of the pond. Connor told himself that the tears in his eyes were from the freezing wind.

The body.

“I’ll have to ask you to back away, Mr. Walsh.” Connor complied, taking a few steps backwards as the officers put the lifeless student on a stretcher and began to carry him up towards the waiting ambulance with the EMTs standing by, their cold hands stuck in their pockets as they looked on, resigned.

As it passed by him, Connor stared at the boy, his dirty blonde hair closely cropped at the sides and longer on top, whatever styling there was undone by a night under water and ice. He was sharply dressed too, and Connor almost felt like he could divine from his face that he had tended to err on the cocky side of confident in life.

Sergeant Jiang turned to Connor. “Sorry we couldn’t talk more, but we’ll be back with a warrant, Mr. Walsh. Just be sure to keep young Mr. Green here while we’re gone.”

Connor nodded, parting with the officers as most of them left, with only a couple detectives remaining behind on the scene. Connor went to open the door of his old dorm before he noticed that there was a card-reader next to the door. Apparently they’d improved their security, though clearly not enough to save… _who was it again?_ Connor searched for the name as he stood outside the dorm. _Adam? Alan? Whatever, I’m sure I’ll be sick of it before long._

As the cold started to become uncomfortable, Connor realized that he had no way of contacting Jerry, and the his parents we in the air right now so they were out of contact. He had just sat down on a nearby bench, getting ready to settle in until one of the students came out – which probably wouldn’t be this early on a Saturday, when the door opened.

“Are you here for Jerry?”

“Yeah. And you are…?

“Shawn, his roommate.”

“Right. Connor Walsh.”

“Well then come on Mr. Walsh, I can’t babysit him forever.”

Connor snickered. “Alright, let’s go.”

* * *

Reaching Jerry and Shawn’s room, Connor saw that they were in fact on the same floor, in the same hallway where he had lived his junior year. He looked down the hallways and saw the exact room – 305. He thought back to what had happened in that room; what had happened with Aiden.

He looked in front of him – 308. Wasn’t that where Zach lived during his year? _Now there’s a coincidence._

“This is it?”

“Yeah.”

Shawn unlocked the door, revealing a room that was obviously too small to comfortably hold the two people it was built for. The beds were bunked, the bottom covered in a mess of clothes and notebooks. Connor could hear sniffling coming from the top bunk.

“I’ll leave you two alone. I’ve gotta get breakfast anyways, it’s been a long night.”

“I hear ya, Shawn. We’ll be good here. Thanks.”

The student threw up a peace sign before leaving and closing the door behind him. Connor sat down at one of the desks on the opposite side of the room from the bed and turned his attention to his new client. “Jerry, you up there man? Could you come down?”

He heard the body on the top bunk limber up before he saw Jerry’s face rise. He resembled his brother, though his hair was a light brown whereas Zach’s was blonde. Connor stood up as the student planted his feet on the ground and found himself looking forward into Jerry’s chin. He’d forgotten how tall the Greens were. Looking up, he saw Jerry’s tear-stained face. Realizing that he hadn’t seen Jerry since senior year of college and that a “ _How’s it going_ ” would be inappropriate in this situation, Connor decided to cut to the chase.

“I’m sorry about what happened, man. Did you know him?”

Jerry wiped away the fresh tears from his eyes, hyperventilating. “I-I didn’t do it. Y-y-you gotta believe me Connor, I didn’t.”

An old, unwelcome voice awoke in Connor’s mind. ‘People always ask me if I think my clients are innocent…I don’t care.’ Connor did his best to shoo away that ghost. “I know you didn’t Jerry. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to protect you.”

Finally able to breathe again, Jerry nodded exhaustedly. “Th-thanks.”

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. “Police!” Connor sighed; they’d gotten the warrant faster than he’d thought they would. He looked at Jerry’s face, seeing the hope that had just dawned on it recede just as quickly. Connor moved to open the door as the cops knocked again, hearing Jerry murmer behind him “No no no nononnonono."

The door revealed one of the two detectives who had stayed behind at the pond. “Jeremiah Green?”

Connor stood aside, asking “I’m representing Mr. Green. What is this concerning?”

The detective walked past the lawyer, grabbing Jerry’s arms and cuffing them behind his back. “Jeremiah Green, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Alexander Rochelle. You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you…”

Connor moved back in front of the doorway. “On what evidence?”

“Ask the students on this floor who heard a fight between Mr. Green and Mr. Rochelle last night. Ask the students who heard them arguing next to the pond where Mr. Rochelle was found dead this morning. Ask the students who heard the ice crack minutes after the argument ended.”

Connor watched as Jerry was lead out by the officer, who carried on with the litany of Miranda Rights. He followed them out of the building, getting in his own car to follow them to the station. Checking his phone, he saw that someone had sent him a barrage of voicemails and texts. Looking at the name, he rolled his eyes and swiped to call the number back.

She picked up before the first ring was over.

“Connor, what the hell?”

“Jeez, I’m sorry Michaela. Did you want me to walk in and wake up you and bae?”

“He’s no my ‘bae,’ Connor, we’re just having fun. You of all people should be able to understand that.”

“Actually, as someone who’s had a boyfriend for seven years now, I don’t think I could.”

“Hah, yeah I’m pretty sure that you’ve broken up a couple too many times in that timeframe to call it seven straight years.”

“Trust me Michaela, those years have been a lot of things but straight was never gonna be one of them.”

“Yeah, whatever, the point is that your boy is on driving up from Philadelphia as we speak.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Oliver was going on a business tri-”

“That’s what he told you, moron, but he was _going_ to surprise you. He wanted to go out and get a Chirstmas tree with you or something gross like that.”

Connor froze, not even noticing that the police car carrying Jerry was long gone.

“H-how do you know he’s already left?”

“He texted me around five this morning.”

“Why didn’t you text him back?!”

“I just woke up Connor. Sorry I’m not at the beck and call of every one of your and your boyfriend’s texts.”

Connor sighed, dragging his hand down his face. “Can you call him?”

“Me?! Shouldn’t it be you? I don’t want to be the one responsible for him picking up his phone and crashing.”

Another, deeper sigh. “Well one, he has Bluetooth, Michaela, and two…you’re probably right. Fuck.”

“I always am!” Connor could almost hear her wink. “Keep me posted on that case though. I’m not too busy right now, so I might be able to save your ass if you need me to.

Connor couldn’t help but smirk at that. “Alright. Will do. Thanks. Bye.”

Michaela’s voice went high and nasal. “ _Love youu_ ,” she teased.

“ _Love you"_  Connor doubled the mockery on his end back before hanging up.

He went back into his contacts, finding Oliver’s name; or more precisely, Oliver’s name with a heart-eyes emoji replacing the “O.” He’d forgotten if Oliver or Michaela had done that – it was probably a collaboration – but it always made him smile, even on days like this. That smile quickly faded though, as he pressed “call,” preparing to disappoint his boyfriend once more.


	2. We've Been Through Worse Than This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor counsels his client. Meanwhile, we get a look at things to come.

“What are you doing Connor?! We need to call the police!”

“You really think we have time for that?!” Connor trudged through the knee-deep snow, trying to follow in the footsteps that cleared a path through the frozen layers. They led towards the woods, where their trail was hidden by the veil of winter darkness.

His pants were already caked with snow and he could barely feel his legs, but the thought of what might be happening in those woods compelled him to push forwards. Michaela followed closely behind.

“He’s – they both could be murderers!”

Connor yelled back over his shoulder. “I don’t really think we have a leg to stand on as far as that goes, Michaela.”

“No, I don’t mean – we’re different. None of that was our choice. This – this was!”

“We don’t know that.”

“For Christ’s sake Connor they all said that-”

Connor swiveled, his cheeks rendered a sanguine red by the frigid temperatures. “You – you don’t know this place like I do. You haven’t lived it. Here you-you’re trapped. It’s its own little world and people can put these ideas in your head and-and you lose yourself. There’s no one else to turn to here – you just have your ‘friends’ and if you lose them then there’s nobody at all. No, it’s worse than that – if you lose them then they’ll come for you. They’ll come for you and they won’t stop until they’ve got what they wanted, plus interest. And even if you have a real friend you can’t, you just can’t drag them into that.” His tears were flowing freely now.

Michaela rested a hand on his arm. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

Connor affirmed silently.

“I’m so sorry Connor.”

“Oliver can’t know. It would – I don’t even want to think about it.”

“He’s stronger than you think Connor. You have to know that by now.”

“I should. But – we’ll have time to fix that later. I’m going after them. You don’t have to come Michaela, it’s fine if you-”

“Like hell. We’ve been through worse than this.”

A grim smile crossed Connor’s face. “Thanks.” Putting his hand in his pockets he felt his phone vibrating. He pulled it out to see a text from Oliver – that is multiple texts from Oliver.

_Will get there as fast as I can. 10m_

_Wait for me by the dorm. On my way now. 9m_

_Connor? 6m_

_Connor I stg 5m_

_Con 5m_

_**Missed call** 4m_

_**Voicemail** 2m_

Connor pulled his glove off and swiped on his phone. Oliver picked up on the first ring.

“Where the hell were you?”

“It’s tough to feel a phone vibrating when your legs are numb from the cold.” It was a shitty lie, but he wasn't sure he wanted to tell Oliver that he had his phone on silent, because then he would have to tell Oliver _why_ his phone was on silent.

“Oh you’re fucking kidding me Connor.”

“…Shouldn’t’a said that...”

“And I saw you left your snowpants in the room. If you knew you were going into this sort of snow you should’ve-”

“I didn’t really know that, Oliv-”

Connor paused and his eyes widened. Those darks spots on the snow in front of them. They couldn’t be…”

He could hear Michaela behind him “Oh god oh god oh god oh god.”

 _Whose is it?_ Connor thought. _Please, **please** don’t let it be his_ …

Oliver’s voice had faded as Connor looked on towards the woods, seeing splatter after splatter of blood along the footsteps. He brought the phone back up to his face. “Oliver. Hurry. We’re by the woods behind Yeoman Hall. You’ll know where we are…there’s blood, Oliver.”

As he was about to lower his phone and end the call he realized that Oliver was probably about to go into shock.

“Not _our_ blood Ollie. Don’t worry.”

Hanging up, he started running towards the woods. Michaela had been frozen behind him, but seeing her friend dashing away she sprinted off in hot pursuit.

“You little shit, give me warning when you do that next time!”

* * *

  **Two Months Earlier**  

* * *

“Crap, I’m so sorry Connor. If I’d have known-”

“Well you couldn’t’ve known. I was going to text you once I had a chance to catch my breath. I didn’t want to interrupt your apparently imaginary conference.”

“Yeah, well imagine what a great surprise it would’ve been!” Connor could hear the smile in Oliver’s voice, that bright smile with its irresistible and infectious optimism. “Plus, y’know, tomorrow is – well…”

Tomorrow is…? Oh. Today is December 2nd, which means that tomorrow will be - Connor suddenly felt queasy. “You were going to…thanks Oliver.”

“I could come up there. Let me book a hotel room – well two, we can’t leave Michaela totally alone tomorrow either.”

Connor smiled. While it was true that Michaela probably would be fine on her own, Oliver had taken it upon himself to make sure that both she and Connor would be as comfortable as possible on that day. Not that he ever mentioned what had happened that night – none of them did. He and Connor had only spoken about it in detail once; Connor wasn’t able leave their bed for a few days after that. At the same time however, he and Michaela had come to see the anniversary as something to commemorate. They were survivors, thrust into a situation that neither of them had chosen. And so they had implicitly agreed to mark December 3rd, both in solemn, silent reflection and frivolous distraction. His name was not uttered, nor hers, nor those of the other two; whatever movie they chose to watch that day would be as hilarious and bloodless as possible.

“It-it really does mean a lot, Ollie.”

“Yeah, well it seems to be getting better. I mean you didn’t even remember this year…but then I had to go and remind you…”

“No, I would have remembered tomorrow, trust me. So, uh, yeah, pick Michaela up in NoHo I guess and come up here. Sorry if we won’t be able to get a Christmas tree together this year.”

“There’s always next year. I’ll see you later today then.”

“Yeah.”

“Love ya.”

“Love ya too.”

“Can I have a kiss?”

Connor sighed, more as a formality than anything else. “Alright.” He checked to see if there was anyone around, even as he found himself unable to contain his smile. “ _Mmmwah_!” There was silence for a second, and then they both laughed. If teenage Connor had been walking by, out of his dorm, he would have physically recoiled at the sight. As Connor hung up, he shook his head at the thought, but he couldn’t blame his younger self – after all, who else had ever made him feel like that?

Connor started his car and set off after his client.

* * *

Walking into Redfield’s small police station he saw Jerry cuffed to the bench, at this point appearing to be numb and exhausted beyond tears.

“They haven’t asked you anything yet, have they?”

Jerry shook his head.

“Good.”

Sergeant Jiang walked up, Bartley by her side. “You took your time Mr. Walsh.”

“Had to go to the bathroom.”

“Right. Well, we should get started.”

She uncuffed Jerry from the bench before binding his hands together again in front of him. Connor followed his client and the officers into the interrogation room.

Sitting down next to Jerry, Connor could see his sickly pallor. “Have you given my client any food since he got here? Doesn’t look like he’s eaten yet today; I can’t let you question him under these conditions.”

Jiang huffed. “Fine.” She opened the door and hollered down the hall “Hey, LeClerc, go to Dunkin’s and get us one-” she looked back “-three breakfast sandwiches!”

Connor was affronted. “What about me?” Jiang turned raised an eyebrow at him. “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” He got up and shouted to the hapless LeClerc, who had just gotten to the door. “Make it four, please! And don't worry; I’ll pay you back for mine!”

LeClerc looked to Jiang for confirmation, and after seeing her nod responded in kind. As he was about to step out into the tundra Jiang hurled one last salvo, “Ah hell, get some munchkins and coffee while you’re at it.” Obviously burdened by this critical and difficult mission LeClerc acknowledged her one last time in assent before finally making his way out.

Jiang turned back to Connor. “We’ll leave Mr. Green alone for now, but I do have a few questions for you Mr. Walsh; off the record, of course.”

Connor had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes – he knew what was coming next.

“I did a little background research on you, and imagine my surprise when I saw you worked for that big Philly right around the time everyone within six degrees of her started getting murdered.” She turned to Bartley, “We’ve got a minor celebrity on our hands here.”

This was not Connor’s first time at this rodeo. “Annalise Keating,” the name rolled off his tongue as if it were some sweet poison, “was…is one of the best defense lawyers this country has ever known.” He froze for a second. Jiang and Bartley looked on expectantly, as if there were some huge secret he could have had. “…And she ended up becoming a sort of bad luck charm. That’s all there is to it.” He saw Bartley’s face fall, though Jiang’s remained inquisitive. “At least as far as I know; I was just her intern.”

Jiang faked a smile. “Right. Must’ve been shocking though, I mean you were still surrounded by all that even if you weren’t directly connected.”

Connor smirked back; she’d already given him more than enough time to get in character. “Of course. It was horrible, everything that happened there.”

“Must’ve been. Bartley, I’m going to the restroom for a minute.” Bartley nodded. The officer started tapping his pen on the desk. His eyes moved to meet Connor’s only to receive the lawyer’s icy retort, leading him to conclude that discretion was after all the better part of valor. The three men silently awaited the Sergeant’s return.

* * *

Jiang took the last bite from her sandwich. “Mr. Walsh, it doesn’t look like your client is going to get more than halfway through that. Can we please get on with this?”

Connor turned to Jerry, who nodded in assent.

“Great. Bartley, camera?”

The Sergeant, after listing the date, time and other formalities, didn’t wait another instant to get the interrogation started.

“Mr. Green, where were you last night around 6:30 PM?”

“In my dorm.”

“Who were you with?”

“Some friends.”

“I’ll have to advise you not to lie Mr. Green. Was Alexander Rochelle in your room with you?”

Connor interjected. “You don’t have to answer that.”

Jiang did not seem phased. “Walk us through your night as best you can, Mr. Green…”

“…We’ll see you at the arraignment then, Mr. Walsh. It seems like your deadly professor imbued you with at least a basic level of competence.”

“I’m charmed. Truly.”

“Come with us, Mr. Green.” The Sergeant and her partner went to escort the student to his cell.

“You-you mean I don’t get to go?”

Connor placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s Saturday, so we can’t have the arraignment until Monday. That’s when we’ll set bail. Don’t worry; I’ll make sure you won’t be stuck in here for the whole…” Realizing that elaborating on what the next few months might hold for Jerry would probably not do him any good, he stopped himself. “…You’ll get out on bail.” Patting his shoulder one more time, Connor left. Then he remembered one last thing, and called over his shoulder. “Make sure they treat you well in here, and tell me if anything goes wrong.”

Jiang feigned offense. “Please, Mr. Walsh, give us the benefit of the doubt.”

“Of course. I have absolute faith in your department, Sergeant.”

Walking out of the station, Connor saw that he had a new Snapchat. He opened it and saw a selfie of Michaela with a wide smile with Oliver in the background clearly doing his best to keep his eyes on the road while also smiling for the camera. The text on the Snap read “new hampshire here we come!!!!” followed by a copious number of snowflake emojis.

* * *

**Two Months Later**

* * *

“Connor, we can’t just run in blindly like this!” Michaela called after Connor. “We already know what they’re capable of!”

Connor yelled back, “So we’re just going to leave them? Leave him?”

“We don’t know how many more are out there Connor; they could all be there. They’ve gotten away with this before – can you be sure that they wouldn’t kill us at this point?”

He knew she was right, _but still_ , “I have to do something. I know how they work, how they think. I can talk to them. You don’t have to come.”

“You know that’s not fair. Let’s go.”

The two of them tromped through the snow as quietly as they could, doing their best not to snap any branches off the trees or the underbrush. This feeling was familiar them by now, this desperate sense of danger, this need to disappear completely. They kept their breathing quiet even though their hearts were beating out of their chests.

After a few minutes of walking they could see a flickering light. A fire. _Fire_. Another fire deep in the woods; hidden, secret. _Him_ , covered in kindling and gas, a body that had been living, breathing just hours before going up in flames in an instant. He couldn’t remember the sight of him burning, he’d been able to look away and only saw the charred result. But the smell. _The smell_. He remembered trying to hold his breath at first, and then trying to breathe through his jacket, but the smell still got through. That he would never forget.

He realized that he and Michaela had been frozen in place for at least a few minutes. Looking at her he could see that she’d suffered an unwelcome visit by the same memories. They shared a look for a moment, wide eyes open, before nodding to each other and pressing on.

Drawn towards the source of the sinister light despite themselves, Connor and Michaela were hit by a new sensation. Their ears picked it up first, and a chill slivered down their backs. Chanting. Not in the way sports fans might chant, full of energy or burning rage. No, this was colder, dryer. An anachronism, as if some ancient cult had gotten lost in time. Slow and deliberate, as if each word held a power of grave importance, the voices had achieved a perfect unison. They must all be there.

Michaela slowly made her ways to Connor’s side and whispered so quietly that only the familiarity of her voice allowed him to understand her. “You never told me that they have bonfires. And chants?”

“You already know that I never actually joined them, Michaela.”

Connor walked up behind the next tree, and peeking around it he could finally get a good line of vision of the fire. The students were in a circle, all in uniform but with a menagerie of masks clearly bought from the nearest party store. In the middle of the circle there was a student on his knees, dressed in casual wear unlike the others. Connor already knew who he was but peeked his head out a little more to get a clear sight of his face.

There, in the middle of the circle, holding a bleeding gash on his arm was Jerry.

Connor looked back to Michaela and whispered, “I have to talk to them.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s the only way. He needs help.”

“How badly?”

“If we can get him out of here now there won’t be too much of a rush. But…”

“I got it.”

“Can you go back to the edge of the woods and wait for Oliver?”

Michaela hesitated for a second. “Sure. Be safe.”

Connor smiled. “Trust me, as much as you value my life I can assure you that I hold it in even higher regard.”

"You sure you got it?"

"Have you seen this face? Have you heard me talk?"

"Yes, Connor, and sometimes it makes me want to slap you."

"Well sure, but that's only because you know me."

"Fair enough." Michaela smiled. “Good luck.” The two of them stood there for a moment before Michaela went in for the hug. He was the one who hesitated this time for a moment before reciprocating, patting her on the back a couple times. She gave him one last squeeze before pulling away. “See ya.”

“See ya.”

Michaela turned and set off back towards the school. Connor sighed, then taking one last deep breath stepped out from behind the tree and walked towards the bonfire. He reached the edge of the clearing, and Jerry was the first to look up and see him. Their eyes met, and it took a few moments before the masked students and one by one stopped their chanting and turned to look at Connor.

Connor willed his whole body to steel before addressing the small crowd in front of him, trying to channel _her_ , trying to hold on to an ember of the inferno that he remembered her as. “ _Let him go_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna thank ameliabedeliadumaurier for inspiring the idea of commemorating Murder Day (http://ameliabedeliadumaurier.tumblr.com/post/132251738138/connor-and-micheala-are-the-only-actual-friends-of), and if you inferred that Connor and Michaela are anything other than friends from this (okay well I'll allow best friends) then you might be looking at this through a lens that is a little bit too straight.
> 
> And I am not a lawyer so all of this is just a vague approximation of the US judicial system.


End file.
